Girl's Gift Exchange + Kylie Pop Up Shop
Last week on Friday, Cruz was finally home from school! So her, Tina, and I decided to go to brunch in Silver Lake, exchange gifts and then Cruz and I decided to go to the Kylie Pop Up Shop on it's last day! Tina recommended this place called Home Restaurant on Riverside Drive, Cruz & I looked it up and agreed it looked cute, the food looked good and so I made a reservation for 4 at 11 am. We all arrived around 10 or 15 minutes before our reservation. We parked the car, or well, we had to valet and then we went inside. I'm not one to be negative but I will say I walked in and was ignored for about 10 minutes, finally I told them I had a reservation and they told me just a few minutes until they could seat us, which is fine. We sat down and the girl that led us to our table was nice, she told us we could sort our gifts aside on the decor table not too far from us if we wished, so we did. It then took forever to not only ask for what we want but also to actually receive our water/drinks and food. We kept hearing the kitchen was backed up but no one ever actually informed us, no one apologized and no one ever truly checked up on us to see if we even needed or wanted anything else. But while we waited we exchanged gifts. I LOVED my gifts! It was truly a Kylie Christmas for me lol. I got Naughty gloss in the adorable ornament case, I got a Ginger Lip Kit, an Exposed Lip Kit, a Holiday Stocking and the Burgundy Palette. I also got a Starbucks gift card but obviously that's not Kylie lol. Oh boy am I excited to use everything! We then ate our food, I ordered the breakfast burrito with a side of home fries. I will say the food was delicious! It sucks that the service was far from great but the food was honestly so good. We finished up and then Cruz and I headed to the Pop Up!
Considering it was the day before Christmas Eve, the mall was PACKED! So packed!!!!! We finally got the car parked and then we headed in. We got in the line and I will say, since lots of people asked in the mall (lol) from us leaving the car, to finding the store, getting in line and actually getting in the store, it was an hour max, I am pretty sure it was less but I didn't do a great job of keeping track :/. But we got in line, we got in there and I had read a few reviews and posts about the store, I don't know if it's because it wasn't super packed but I read that every shopper gets 15 minutes. However, unless we were given the longest 15 minutes in the world, I don't think we were timed. Basic tour of the store now, to the left of walking in was the dj, then the purple neon signs that said Kylie with her clothes hanging underneath. Then was the other merch from her shop like the underwear and phone cases and such. Then followed the eye stuff such as the Kyliner and the Kyshadow palettes. Then you saw the back wall which had more neon signs, the two tv's and the bed! The right wall followed which from the back to the front was the birthday collection, the holiday collection, singles, and the infamous Lip Kit wall. There were massive floor length mirrors on both sides of the shop and then to the right side of the DJ was the Christmas tree. In the middle of the shop was the registers and walking around were workers.
I will say there was obviously a lot missing, like the Lip Kit wall didn't go all the way to the top, they had condensed it. Cruz bought the last Bronze Kyshadow palette, a handful of the holiday and birthday collection items were gone. So on and so forth but still, I think the shop was a unique experience. As I said, I read reviews and blog posts about the shop before I went, within the first week of it being opened, and I saw a lot of people complaining about how there were no price tags on any of the items so you don't know what you are spending until you are at the register. But Cruz and I both agreed that that shouldn't matter to anyone, while we were in line we looked up and figured out what we wanted and the price. But more importantly, if you were going for the cosmetics line, anyone who has ever ordered from her or is a "real fan" would know the prices. I knew going in I wanted a lip kit which would be $29 + about $3 for tax. As well as I knew the prices of basically everything else in the cosmetics shop. But that is just how I feel. I minded my own while in the shop. Enjoyed everything. Took polaroids of it all, took photos with my phone and then decided on what lip kit I wanted. I went with Posie K, it was a lip kit I had debated about for a while but being there, and seeing it in person, I knew I needed to add some color to my nudes collection. The total came out to about $31 and some cents.
After that I did some last minute shopping with Cruz and just enjoyed a crazy crowded mall together.
I would definitely say, the Pop Up Shop was cool and I definitely plan on going to either her real shop when it opens or her next Pop Up if she has another. Just whatever comes next. As for my collection, for now all I have left is Dolce K lip kit, Pumpkin lip kit and Candy K lip kit.
As for the restaurant, Home, I recommend the food. If you can call in and make sure it's not busy whatsoever, I would suggest going in. If it is busy, and you don't mind waiting, go for it!
I will see you all next year! lol. Hope you enjoyed this post. And shoutout to my friends for the great gifts. They know me so well.
Love,
Bee